Currently, many wood articles, such as plywood are manufactured by having a central core covered by an outside wood ply which is able to bridge and hide the defects in the core below. The use of an exterior wood ply, while generally suitable has some defects in addition to the cost. First is the need to ensure that the exterior ply has no surface defects itself which detracts from its appearance. This is particularly true in decorative plywoods used as exterior surfaces in rooms or to make articles. Secondly, even if all the conditions are met as to exterior appearance, the outer plywood ply must be treated in order to make it maintain its structural integrity under wet conditions when it is used as the outer ply for exterior plywood in order to be able to withstand weathering. Moreover, wood ply very often for appearance purposes, needs to be texturized and it is expensive to do so with a wood ply.
Efforts to overcome these shortcomings have included the use of resin saturated papers which are applied as the outside wood ply in an exterior plywood. These, however, are not entirely satisfactory since they are not only extremely costly, but they do not satisfactorily cover or bridge the defects in the core beneath. Moreover, they do not, in some cases give good abrasion resistant surfaces which is important for exterior grade plywood and at the same time, they tend to expand excessively when either submerged in water or under severe wet conditions and thus, lose their structural integrity. In some cases they tend to delaminate from the ply beneath.